1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a vehicle safety control apparatus and method using cameras.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a camera installed in a conventional vehicle is used in various functions (lane departure warning (LDW), forward collision warning (FCW), high-beam assist (HBA), pedestrian warning (PW), or traffic sign recognition (TSR)) as a single or stereo camera.
Here, the single camera is advantageous in terms of cost or a size, but its efficiency is low in terms of a distance measurement error or control reliability as compared to a stereo or multi field of view (FOV) camera.
On the other hand, the stereo camera outperforms the single camera in terms of control performance because the stereo camera has a smaller vertical distance measurement error than the single camera. However, in the stereo camera, a narrower FOV should be used so as to measure a farther distance in vertical performance.
This conventional camera has limitation in providing convenience of driving for a driver because a recognition rate for a current object is degraded during running.
In addition, the conventional camera has low control reliability because one camera is used for control and redundancy is degraded. The conventional camera also has lower stereo performance than when two cameras are used.
In addition, the conventional camera has a problem in that a unique performance is not provided due to the conflict with an FOV required by each safety control function (lane detection (LD), vehicle detection (VD), pedestrian detection (PD), HBA, TSR, or the like).
Because this conventional camera has limitation in providing convenience of driving for the driver unfamiliar with the driving due to the degradation of the recognition rate for the current object during running, there is limitation in preventing a traffic accident from occurring in advance.
Accordingly, research on an improved vehicle safety control apparatus and method using cameras for preventing a traffic accident from occurring in advance while providing convenience of driving for the driver by efficiently increasing an image recognition rate for a current object during running has recently continued.